Rumpole of the Bailey
Following the death of television writer and lawyer John Mortimer Flashback takes a look at his most famous television series, Rumpole of the Bailey.
In the late 1960s John Mortimer wrote a play for BBC’s “Wednesday Play” strand called “Infidelity Took Place”, a satirical comment on the new divorces laws that had been introduced to the country at the time. The play was about a happily married couple who decide to divorce in order to take advantage of take breaks they would receive if they were legally separated. The play was overseen by Irene Shubik and in the 1970s Mortimer approached Shubik with a new idea for a play. Mortimer had come up with a new play surrounding a barrister called Horace Rumbold and the breakdown of his marriage. Shubik gave Mortimer the go-ahead to write a play under the new “Play for Today” strand on the BBC. The name of the character was changed to Horace Rumpole when it was discovered that there was actually a real barrister called Horace Rumbold and so the character’s name needed changing. The name of the play eventually became Rumpole of the Bailey.
Cast in the leading role of Rumpole was Australian born actor Leo McKern with Joyce Heron cast as Hilda, Rumpole’s wife. Mortimer had been keen on Michael Hordern for the Rumpole role but soon 
changed his mind over McKern’s casting when he saw the actor in rehearsals. Rumpole of the Bailey, as part of the Play for Today strand, aired in December 1975 and met with positive reviews. Shubik was more than aware of the potential for more stories featuring Rumpole and approached her boss, BBC Head of Plays Christopher Morahan, for permission to commission six more scripts from Mortimer featuring Rumpole. Shubik and Morahan could both see the potential for a future series based around Rumpole. However, shortly after this Morahan left his position at the BBC and his successor was not interested in developing the one-off play into a series. As so often is the case with new managers coming in they desire to stamp their own mark on things and do not follow through with projects ordered by their predecessor.
Over at Thames Television, one of the ITV franchise holders, Head of Drama Verity Lambert was looking for a new upmarket drama series. Lambert had worked at the BBC during the 1960s launching Doctor Who, staying with the series for two years, and then launching soap The Newcomers in 1965. In the 1970s she was made Head of Drama at Thames Television following her successful producing career. Lambert was suitably impressed with the one-off play and contacted Shubik about bringing Rumpole of the Bailey over to Thames and Shubik and Mortimer both agreed to the move.
The first Thames Television produced episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey made their television debut on the ITV Network in 1978 and consisted of six episodes. Leo McKern reprised the central role of 
Rumpole while the part of Hilda, his wife, was recast with Peggy Thorpe-Bates now in the role which was greatly toned down from the original “Play for Today” character. Amongst the new cast for the first full series was Patricia Hodge who played Phyllida Trant, a strong woman with opinions of her own who is a Barrister alongside Rumpole. The theme tune for the music was composed by Joseph Horovitz while the opening titles, featuring caricatures of Rumpole, was created by Rob Page who was inspired by the 19th century cartoonist George Cruikshank. While writing for the series John Mortimer was still working as a barrister and so worked on the scripts before his court appearances.
The first series met with positive reviews and good ratings with many commentators commenting on the BBC’s mistake in not commissioning the series themselves and allow Thames to snap it up. Such was the success of the first series that Thames quickly commissioned a second series but the relationship between Verity Lambert and Irene Shubik quickly decorticated over pay issues and Shubik left the production after commissioning three scripts out of the six required for the second season. After leaving Thames Shubik moved to fellow ITV franchise Granada where she oversaw several successful drama series. The second series of Rumpole of the Bailey quickly followed the first, airing during 1979 on the ITV network. The following year a special was produced, Rumpole’s Return but another full series of the drama wouldn’t hit screens until 1983.
At the end of the second series Patricia Hodge left the drama as a regular but return occasionally for guest appearances. In 1980 BBC Radio Four start to air Rumpole plays with Maurice Denham as Horace Rumpole and Margot Boyd as Hilda. The Radio Four series were based on the original “Play for Today” drama that aired in 1975 on the BBC and the first two seasons of the Thames version. As well as the radio series Mortimer also novelised the television episodes of the series.
In 1983 Rumpole returned for a third season of six episodes. There was a gap of four years until the series returned once more, in 1987, and this saw Peggy Thorpes-Bates leave the series due to ill health and replaced by Marion Mathie in the role of Hilda. Actress Samantha Bond appeared in the series as Liz Probert, a feminist barrister at Rumpole’s chambers who Hilda even suspects Rumpole of having an affair with. Also joining the cast in season four was Ron Pember, who would appear until the show’s finale in 1992, as Dennis Timson, a member of a family who often required Rumpole’s help. Pember was best known for his role in the BBC drama series Secret Army in which he played Allan in all three seasons.
Series Five aired in 1988 and saw Samantha Bond’s role recast with Abigail McKern taking over the role. Maurice Denham who had portrayed Rumpole in the 1980 BBC radio series guest-starred twice in the Thames series, once in season four and returned in season five to reprise his role of Mr Justice Gwent-Evans. A gap of two years followed before the series returned in 1990 for its sixth series and the seventh and final series aired in 1992. While the television series ended in 1992 Rumpole books continued to be publish with original stories following the television series finale.
